Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

In the thread about notable Saturday games, I brought up how the race for the final NFC Wild Card spot in 1981 could have been a mess if the Giants lost and Falcons won (five teams at 8-8).

Another year that could have been messy was 1987 in the AFC. If the Bills would have won on the final Sunday, and the Oilers would have lost, you could have had the Bills, Dolphins, Patriots, Oilers, Steelers, and Chargers all at 8-7 and vying for the final WC spot (and a trip to the Kingdome to play 9-6 Seattle).

The 1980 AFC WAS messy. It could have been messier if the Patriots won in week 16.

The playoffs have been messy since 2020, going from 12 to 14 teams ... too many.

1995 AFC Wild Card

If the Chargers lost on the final Saturday, there would have been FOUR 8-8 teams, from the AFC West (DEN, SEA, SD, OAK) vying for the last WC spot and a trip to Buffalo

(The 4/5 matchup would have been Dolphins/Colts)

CSKreager wrote: ↑Wed Jul 08, 2026 11:22 pm 1995 AFC Wild Card

If the Chargers lost on the final Saturday, there would have been FOUR 8-8 teams, from the AFC West (DEN, SEA, SD, OAK) vying for the last WC spot and a trip to Buffalo

(The 4/5 matchup would have been Dolphins/Colts)

The Chargers would have ended up going to Orchard Park because they had the best record of the four teams in head-to-head matchups (4-2).